Four Views of the Heart

• The Weaned, Quieted Heart
• The Connected, Expectant Heart
• The Established, Fearless Heart
• The Luxuriant, Pliable Heart

The Weaned, Quieted Heart

LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.
(Psalm 131)

THIS is called “growing up” in the LORD. Paul said, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14). He is not talking about “children” in the Lord, but about “sons,” that is, those who have come to a place of maturity in their relationship with God.

It has nothing to do with chronology. There are many who are old in years but still children in the Lord — they just never grew up. On the other hand, there are those who are very young in years but who know how to be led by the Spirit of God — these are mature sons. (It is not about male and female either. If men can be the “bride” of Christ, women can be the “sons” of God.)

It has everything to do with the maturity of the heart. In Psalm 131, David shows us what that looks like:

 My heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty.

There is no pride or arrogance, no unjust assumptions about what we see with the eyes (for our eyes can easily deceive us).

Nor do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

We don’t have to figure everything out with our own reasoning. The Bible says, “Trust in the LORD with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

There are things too profound for our own understanding. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:11), but God sent His Word and His Spirit so that we could operate according to His ways and thoughts. Paul said,

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

That’s why it is important, for our maturity, to be led by the Holy Spirit, for He searches and reveals the things that are too profound for us.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

This maturity is about relationship, not about reasoning. The weaned child is calm and quiet with his mother, not because he has figured everything out, but because he has learned to trust his mother, that she loves him and will take care of him.

Notice that this is a decision we must make. God cannot calm and quiet our soul if we are not willing. We must choose to trust Him, then the peace of God comes and we know that all shall be well. One way to begin is simply by saying, whatever the circumstance, “God, I choose to trust You.” Say it often, at every turn in the road. Instruct your soul with this and let it become big inside you.

O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.

This is David’s conclusion, his kingly counsel to the people of God. To “hope” means to trust, with a positive expectation, a joyful anticipation.

When we have our expectation in God, there is no haughtiness or arrogance, because now we know that it is all about Him and not about us. This is our “standard operating procedure” from now on.

Set your trust, your hope, your expectation upon God in all things — now and forever. Let the Spirit of God search the deep things of God and reveal them to you (simply ask Him, and the Word of God will “come alive” for you). Learn to hear His voice and be led by Him. Then you will move forward in your life in calmness, quietness and confidence.

The Connected, Expectant Heart

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
And in His Word I do hope.
(Psalm 130:5)

FAITH and patience. That is what the psalm writer is talking about here. It is what keeps him connected with the LORD. For the Hebrew word for “wait,” qavah, literally means to bind together, to connect with. Think of a cord stretched from your heart to the heart of God. The distance in between is the distance between “Amen” and “There it is!” It is patient expectation, waiting in anticipation for the Lord to show up on your behalf. It is waiting in faith.

The psalm writer has faith because the Lord has spoken His Word. Without the Word, there is no faith, for faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). If the Lord had not spoken, if there had been no promise, then there would be no reason to wait, no right to expect. But the Lord has spoken, and so the psalm writer confidently declares, “In His Word I do hope.”

The word “hope” is not a word of doubt (“I hope so, but I don’t know”). Rather, it too is a word expressing expectation. God has spoken, so I have expectation. Why? Because the Word of the Lord will never return empty-handed. It will always accomplish what He has said (Isaiah 55:11).

The Hebrew word for “word” is dabar. It is not passive, but active. That is, it accomplishes things. When God speaks His dabar, things happen. When darkness was upon the face of the deep, God said, “Light, be!” and light immediately came into existence (Genesis 1:2-3).

The psalm writer might have chosen to let the circumstances of his life establish what his expectations were going to be. But instead, he turned to the Lord, and to the Lord only. And so there was calmness in his soul.

Is your heart connected to the heart of God? Are you trusting in Him? Does His Word set up an expectation in your heart? Rest on His promises. He has spoken His promises and already set things in motion. It is only a matter of time until they appear. So do not give up, but stay ready and watch in eager anticipation.

The Established, Fearless Heart

He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is established
He will not be afraid,
Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.
(Psalm 112:7-8)

JUST WHO IS the psalm writer talking about, anyway? Whoever trusts in the Lord. We see this in verse 1:

Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.

Now, the heart is the core of your being, the center of who you are. Is your heart restless and unsettled? Is it fearful or confused? The fear of the LORD will establish your heart, that is, bring stability, rest and peace to the center of your being.

What is the fear of the LORD? It is not the fear that comes from the world, a fear that torments. The fear of the LORD is to live in absolute awe of Him, to love what He loves and hate what He hates, to treasure His favor above all things and avoid His displeasure at all costs, to take pleasure in His Word, His will, His ways and His works and honor them in everything you do. It is to love and trust Him. This is the fear that sets you free.

When your heart is centered on the LORD, it is established by Him, and nothing can disturb your peace. Bad news may surround you, but you will not be afraid of it, unless you release your focus.

Peter walked on water, even through stormy wind and waves — as long as he kept his focus on Jesus. When he let the surrounding circumstances fill his eyes, his thoughts and his heart, he immediately began to sink. But when he cried out to Jesus, letting Him become the focus again, he was lifted up again.

You see, the problem is not about the evil tidings that continually crop up around us. Those have been around ever since the Fall. The real problem is the orientation of the heart. Settle your heart completely on the Lord, which is a matter of loving and trusting Him, and you can settle the matter of fear. Oh, there may be demonic influences attached to your fear, no doubt. But these are actually undermined by love and faith, and a simple word of command will dismiss them.

Perfected love — the intimate relationship with God where His love and peace rule and reign in you heart — casts out fear.

God is calling you to love and trust Him for all He’s worth (which is infinite). That’s why Jesus came, to reconcile you to the Father. When you receive new life in Him, through faith in Jesus Christ, and let the heart of the Father settle into your heart, filling it to overflowing, there will be no room for fear. Your heart will be established in Him.

The Luxuriant, Pliable Heart

Delight yourself also in the LORD
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
(Psalm 37:4)

WHEN David says to delight yourself also in the LORD, he does not mean in addition to whatever else you happen to be delighting yourself in. Rather, he means in addition to what he said in verses 1 through 3:

 

• Don’t fret because of evildoers — they will soon be cut down like grass.
• Don’t be envious of the workers of iniquity — they will soon wither as the green herb.
• Trust in the LORD.
• Do good.
• Dwell in the land (don’t get antsy).
• Feed on His faithfulness.

Then he says, delight yourself also in the LORD. The Hebrew word for “delight” means to be soft and pliable toward, and to luxuriate in. Let your heart be soft and pliable toward the Lord. Enjoy the rich experience of being with Him. The Westminster Catechism teaches us that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

I have discovered that the more I delight myself in the LORD, the more I receive the desires of my heart. I see this first in that, the more I spend my life with God, the more I desire of Him. Then He grants that which I desire the most — Himself!

The more I fellowship with God, the more I realize that I don’t want God to get involved in what I’m doing, I want to get involved in what He’s doing. My thoughts and my ways are meager, weak, ineffective, stale — and I’m tired of them.

Letting go of my own thoughts and ways, I am now free to embrace God’s thoughts and God’s ways. They are limitless, continually fresh and new each day. They are world-changing, because they are the reason the world came into being in the first place.

God freely offers us His thoughts and His ways — through His Word and through His Spirit. Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father so we could fellowship with Him, think His thoughts and walk in His ways. Open yourself up to Him and let Him change your heart. Let Him fill your life with things that will truly delight you.

In Psalm 36, David said of those who trust in the LORD, “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house, and You give them drink from the river of your pleasures.”

This could be you.

Dear Lord,

I do not fret because of evildoers and I do not envy the workers of iniquity — they shall not last. But I trust in You, and so I will do what is good. I will dwell in the land and not be afraid. I will feed on Your faithfulness. I will also delight myself in You — luxuriating in Your thoughts and walking in Your ways. I will be pliable towards you, and I invite you to come and change my heart. I thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose again so that I could have this wonderful relationship with You. I thank You for the Holy Spirit, who gives me new birth through faith in Jesus Christ and reveals Your heart to my heart.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

© 2005 by Jeff Doles.
All rights reserved.